Josh Emmett Says He’s Battling Jeremy Stephens for ‘Hardest Hitting Fighter’ at Featherweight
Josh Emmett knows that Jeremy Stephens is a knockout artist but he’s more than happy to test his own power against him on Saturday night.
It was just this past December when Emmett made a huge jump in the rankings when he flattened former title contender Ricardo Lamas via first round knockout to earn a spot amongst the top five fighters in the world at featherweight.
While that was his first and only knockout in the UFC, Emmett promises that he always packs a serious punch and at a time when fighters are arbitrarily handing out titles to each other, he feels like there’s another one on the line when he faces Stephens on Saturday night.
“I know he hits hard and he’s proven it time and time again,” Emmett said about Stephens. “He has more knockouts than I have fights. Like I said before, you ask anyone in the gym at Team Alpha Male who hits the hardest and I guarantee most of them will say it’s me. There’s so many titles. There’s interim titles and the real title, [Eddie] Alvarez and [Justin] Gaethje were making their own title for the most violent fighter.
“I think Stephens and I are going to have a title for who is the hardest hitting fighter in the featherweight division.”
That’s a bold statement considering Stephens’ history in his UFC career where he’s racked up more than a few highlight reel finishes but Emmett is more than happy to test his power against him in their main event showdown.
The difference in Emmett’s game is that he’s not going to just stand in front of Stephens and start winging punches because that’s going to be a recipe for disaster and really just a game of Russian roulette to see who lands first.
“I think our power is going to be pretty similar but I think I’m a little faster,” Emmett stated. “He doesn’t like it when people move a lot in and out of the pocket. I like it when people pressure me cause that’s an easy night for me. I’ve seen all of his fights and I enjoy watching him fight and I still do but I think definitely I’m not just going to stand in the pocket and trade.”
Of course, Emmett is confident that he will walk away victory but the one thing he can promise fans watching on FOX and those in attendance in Orlando is they are going to enjoy the show whether this fight lasts for one minute or all five rounds.
“I can never predict how the fight’s going to go and I’m prepared for a five round war,” Emmett said. “I will get my hand raised, I will be victorious and I’ve knocked out people who have never been knocked out before. We’ll see. I think when I knocked out Lamas that was the worst he’s ever been knocked out.
“I think it’s going to be fight of the night and it might be fight of the year and we haven’t even fought yet.”
